02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
‘Context Matters’ Revealed: Policy Transfer in Vocational Education to Serbia Caught Between Human Capital and Human Rights Perspectives
Margarita Langthaler1, Ana Pešikan2
1Austrian Foundation for Development Research; 2University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Psychology
Presenting Author: Langthaler, Margarita;
Pešikan, Ana
Globalisation has increased interest in educational policy transfer in the academic and policy debate. This includes vocational education and training (VET), whose role has been emphasised by policy makers all over the world after the global financial crisis of 2007/8. VET, so it seems, can be an efficient tool to combat unemployment and increase economic productivity.
Based on this assumption, the last decade has seen an exponential rise of transfer activities and accompanying research of the model of dual VET from the German-speaking to other countries. While success of transfer endeavours has been mixed, research tends to focus on issues of implementation rather than underlying social relations and actors’ interests in both sending and receiving countries.
In this paper, we will discuss the transfer process of dual VET to Serbia, where in 2017 a law introduced dual VET as a separate track in the traditional school-based VET system. This had been preceded by reform discussions, encouraged and supported by the EU and German speaking donor countries, of what was perceived as an outdated, theory-biased and not market-responsive VET system. The dual VET reform has been meant to decrease youth unemployment and skilled emigration. Yet, more visibly than in other countries, the introduction of dual VET in Serbia was met with resistance by academia, civil society and trade unions largely based on concerns that it could increase social and educational inequities. While the implementation process, started in 2019, is still young and valid monitoring data on the intended impact of dual VET is unavailable, the transfer process in itself offers promising terrain for an analysis focused on underlying social relations rather than on success or failure at the level of implementation.
Our research question is therefore what role political interests of the involved internal and external actors have played in and how (diverging) conceptions of education have framed societal debates on the transfer process.
In this paper, we will first challenge the predominantly pragmatic research approach to dual system transfer by unpacking the notion of context. Beyond an examination of actors’ roles, interests and their (conflictive) relations, this includes discourses, conceptions and imaginaries of education. Second, we will relate this to the discussion on the purpose of education. Indeed, the opposition to dual VET in Serbia, beyond immediate concerns over wage dumping and curricular narrowing, transmits conflicting imaginaries of education. While the presumed success story of dual VET is framed by economistic conceptions defining human capital formation as education’s main purpose, humanistic objectives, such as social equity, continue to underpin collective imaginaries of education in Serbia, basically as a heritage from socialist Yugoslavia.
Our conceptual framework refers to two interrelated strands of academic debate in comparative education. First, we will draw on policy transfer literature, in particular on the analytical approach that examines motivations of transfer and its impact on existing policies and power constellations (e.g. Steiner-Khamsi, 2014). Rappleye’s (2012) ‘political production model’ of educational policy transfer will serve as analytical guidelines. This model postulates that political objectives tend to determine transfer decisions to a greater extent than the technical suitability of particular education policies from other countries. Second, Rappleye’s model will be complemented by Crossley’s and Watson’s (2003) notion of context, which points to the significance of culture, including discourses as well as understandings and imaginaries of education that predominate in a given context.
Our objective is to contribute to an analytical rather than normative academic debate aimed at understanding social relations, actors’ roles and educational imaginaries that might underpin collective efforts to support or oppose the reforms in question.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis paper draws on two bodies of research by the authors: research on the Serbian dual VET reform (Langthaler, forthcoming; Langthaler & Top, 2023) and research on the reforms of the education system in Serbia and the social factors that accompanied and influenced them (Ivić & Pešikan, 2012; Pešikan & Ivić, 2021). It is based on the one hand on a literature review including academic publications from educational, political and economic disciplines, as well as grey literature and policy papers from Serbian, EU and bilateral (mainly German-speaking) donor sources.
On the other hand, the analysis draws on a body of 16 semi-structured expert interviews (as defined in Bogner et al., 2009), conducted between August and November 2021. Interviewees include Serbian academics, Serbian and non-Serbian representatives from institutions involved in the transfer and implementation process (including statal and para-statal bodies, research organisations, trade unions), as well as experts from European, bi- and multilateral donor agencies. Interviews were assessed using content analysis (Mayring, 2010).
The main categories for the assessment of the literature and the interviews were:
a) Perceived challenges and achievements of dual VET in Serbia;
b) Motivations and objectives of involved actors to introduce dual education in Serbia;
c) Motivations and criticism/concerns of those actors who opposed the introduction of dual education in Serbia;
d) Extent of involvement and role of different societal actors, in particular “social partners”, in the process of designing and implementing the reform.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsOur findings suggest that the dual VET transfer process to Serbia has followed political rationales rather than imperatives to improve Serbian VET. As for the donor countries, there are economic and political interests as major investors in Serbia. For the Serbian government, blaming an outdated VET system is an easy explanation for complex socio-economic problems such as youth unemployment and high poverty rates. As it is an easy solution to draw on a successful foreign example, regardless of its actual suitability to the Serbian context. This context is substantially different to that in German-speaking countries: Social relations are not corporatist, but strictly neo-liberal; social dialogue is absent; the economy is unstable and based on low level skills, and a substantial part of stakeholders hold collective visions of education that oppose the economistic framing of dual VET.
At the conceptual level, our analysis shows that besides political interest by the respective actors, collective imaginaries of education and VET play an important role in educational transfer processes. They substantially frame societal debates about the transfer and particularly underpin endeavours to oppose and resist the transfer processes and the educational reforms in question. In the case of Serbia, humanistic and human rights imaginaries of education and VET, inherited from socialist Yugoslavia and deeply rooted among academia, teaching staff and civil society, collide with economistic conceptions that view the primary purpose of education in workforce supply.
ReferencesBogner, A., Littig, B., & Menz, W. (Eds.). (2009). Interviewing Experts. Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244276
Crossley, M., & Watson, K. (2003). Comparative and international research in education: Globalisation, context and difference. Routledge Falmer.
Dull, L. J. (2012). Teaching for humanity in a neoliberal world: Visions of education in Serbia. Comparative Education Review, 56(3), 511–533.
Grujić, G. (2021). Dual Education in the Republic of Serbia. Chinese Business Review, 20(4), 140–147.
Ivić, I., & Pešikan, A. (2012). Education system reforms in an unstable political situation: The case of Serbia in the first decade of the 21st century. https://doi.org/10.25656/01:6726
Langthaler, M. (forthcoming). Lost during transfer? The role of social dialogue in the Serbian dual VET reform. In O. Valiente et al. (Eds.) International Policy Transfer of Dual Apprenticeships.
Langthaler, M., & Top, P. (2023). The role of social dialogue in the transfer of the dual system of vocational education and training. The case of Serbia. ÖFSE Working Paper. ÖFSE.
Mayring, P. (2010). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Grundlagen und Techniken. [Qualitative Content Analysis]. Beltz.
McGregor, G. (2009). Educating for (whose) success? Schooling in an age of neo‐liberalism. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(3), 345–358. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425690902812620
Pešikan, A. (2020). Svrha obrazovanja u savremenom dobu - Obrazovanje za čiji uspeh. [The purpose of education in the modern age - Educating for whose success]. In A. Pešikan, Učenje u obrazovnom kontekstu [Learning in an educational context], (pp.439-450.)
Pešikan, A., & Ivić, I. (2021). The Impact of Specific Social Factors on Changes in Education in Serbia. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 11(2), 59–76. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1152
Pilz, M. (2016). Policy Borrowing in Vocational Education and Training (VET)—VET System Typologies and the ‘6P Strategy’ for Transfer Analysis. In M. Pilz (Ed.), Vocational education and training in times of economic crisis: Lessons from around the world (pp. 473–490). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Rappleye, J. (2012). Reimagining Attraction and ‘Borrowing’ in Education. Introducing a Political Production Model. In G. Steiner-Khamsi & F. Waldow (Eds.), World yearbook of education 2012: Policy borrowing and lending in education (pp. 121–148).
Renold, U., Caves, K. M., & Oswald-Egg, M. E. (2021). Implementation of the Serbian Law on Dual Education: Fourth Report on Drivers and Barriers in the Implementation Phase. ETH Zurich. https://doi.org/10.3929/ETHZ-B-000476567
Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2014). Cross-national policy borrowing: Understanding reception and translation. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 34(2), 153–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2013.875649
02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
A Typology of International VET Governance
Johannes Klassen1, Johannes Karl Schmees2
1Helmut Schmidt University; 2Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Presenting Author: Klassen, Johannes;
Schmees, Johannes Karl
Vocational education and training (VET) is traditionally understood as a primarily national policy field that is particularly characterised by national traditions and path dependencies. However, numerous research studies in recent years demonstrate that VET is no longer only organised at national level. In addition to an already established strand of research on the Europeanisation of national VET policy (Busemeyer 2009; Trampusch 2008; Bohlinger / Fischer 2015; Münk / Scheiermann 2018) and an ongoing interest in the international policy transfer of vocational education and training (Li / Pilz 2023), there is now also work that addresses phenomena that have received fewer attention so far, such as the role of international organisations (Klassen submitted; Vanderhoven 2023; Maurer 2008, 2012) or cross-border cooperation between regions in different countries (Graf 2021). This work raises the fundamental question of the extent to which VET has developed into an international policy field in its own right.
In this paper, we propose to analyse those activities as different types of international VET governance. A governance perspective opens up a view of political design processes that do not emanate solely from a hierarchically conceived state. By international VET governance, we mean the organisation of structures, processes and/or content of VET that transcends national borders. This definition comprises several elements. Firstly, it refers to activities that transcend national borders and therefore cannot be understood exclusively as part of national VET policy. Secondly, these are formative activities that aim to address and shape vocational education and training, for example in material form (e.g. through project funding) or in non-material form (e.g. through standardisation). Thirdly, we focus international VET governance on the organisation of structures, processes and/or content of VET. In doing so, we draw on the classic distinction between polity, politics and policy, which was also used by Kutscha (2010), for example, to define national VET policy, but extend it to include policy beyond the nation state.
In order to differentiate different types of international VET governance, we derived four governance dimensions out of the governance literature: Firstly, as mentioned above, international governance is characterised by the specific diversity of actors involved. These include, in particular, states, international and supranational organisations, non-governmental organisations, transnational public-private partnerships, but also companies and trade unions, which are particularly relevant in the field of vocational education and training. Depending on the policy field, different actors are active in different weightings. Actors interact with each other in certain actor constellations. The identification of such actor constellations provides an entry point for describing international governance activities in more detail. Secondly, the governance activities within these actor constellations are based on certain institutional arrangements, i.e. rules, structures and processes that set the framework for the interaction between actors. These can be formally codified, for example in international treaties or co-operation agreements, or they can have an informal character and be based, for example, on shared interests or convictions. Institutional arrangements thus form the basis on which governance activities take place. Thirdly, governance takes place by means of specific instruments that are available and used by actors. The academic literature identifies a range of different governance instruments. For the area of education policy, Parreira do Amaral (2015) identified four governance instruments – norm setting, agenda setting, funding and coordination of activities (Parreira do Amaral 2015, 374). More generally, Braun and Giraud (2014, 182–188) differentiated between the instruments of ‘regulation’, ‘financing’, ‘structuring’ and ‘persuasion’. Given the dynamic nature of governance activities, it seems impossible to compile an exhaustive and fully comprehensive list of governance instruments.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe typology presents six types of international VET governance. It is based, on the one hand, on observations of political practice in international VET and the literature describing it and, on the other hand, on political science terminology used to describe different types of international policy. Methodologically speaking, it is therefore a combination of a deductive and inductive approach, which was created both from the observation of reality and derived from theoretical concepts (Lehnert 2007). The aim of this approach was to transfer the various phenomena of international vocational education and training policy into a typology that depicts the differences and similarities of individual phenomena at a medium level of abstraction (cf. Lehnert 2007) in order to develop an organisational system of distinct types (cf. Collier 2008). In this approximation process, we have conceptualised six types of international VET governance, which differ sufficiently in the characteristics of the four dimensions - actor constellation, institutional form, governance instruments and the role of the state. Overall, we have thus created a descriptive typology (Collier et al. 2012) that serves to identify and describe the phenomena to be analysed; in principle, typologies can also be used to highlight causal links (Elman 2005; Bennett and Elman 2006).
The six types include bilateral, multilateral, intergovernmental, supranational, interregional and transnational VET governance. While in the bilateral and multilateral form, only states cooperate with each other, intergovernmental and supranational VET governance describe the political relationship between states and supranational organisations. In contrast, the interregional form refers to cooperation between state regions, while transnational VET governance encompasses the relationships between private actors and between private and public actors. The six types are presented below. In doing so, we first define the respective form, drawing both on political science concepts and on the dimensions of international VET governance.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe six types of international Vocational Education and Training (VET) governance are distinguished by their actor constellations. Three horizontal types (bilateral, multilateral, interregional) involve states or regions with formal equality, yet imbalances persist, especially in donor-recipient dynamics. Multilateral governance, influenced by economic positions, may favor certain states. Vertical types (intergovernmental, supranational) have formally organized actors at different levels, but power imbalances can occur. Vertical constellations, like in the European Union (EU), may lack a clear balance of power, with states not always implementing international organization recommendations. Transnational VET governance exhibits mixed types, featuring horizontal relationships, like Unions4VET, and vertical public-private partnerships, as seen in the Global Apprenticeship Network.
Institutional arrangements underpinning international VET governance are usually formal but can be informal. Supranational governance, like in the EU, relies on formal international treaties, while bilateral cooperation relies on intergovernmental agreements. Multilateral cooperation in the G7 is informally rooted in shared scientific interests, and transnational governance, like the Global Apprenticeship Network, has informal aspects. Although having a constitution, the network allows flexible membership without elaborate formal processes.
Governance instruments vary from material (financing, technical cooperation) to non-material (knowledge production, discursive dissemination, standard-setting, persuasion). Bilateral and certain international organizations (e.g., the World Bank) emphasize material instruments, while non-material instruments are prevalent in intergovernmental governance (knowledge production) and supranational governance (standard-setting).
The state's role in international VET governance ranges from active (e.g., donor, negotiator) to passive (e.g., recipient) or enabling (e.g., framing cooperation). Unlike its extensive role in national VET policy, the state's international role has limited maneuverability, requiring nuanced strategies for influencing outcomes.
ReferencesBennett, A., & Elman, C. 2006. "Case Study Methods in the International Relations Subfield." *Comparative Political Studies* 40 (2): 170-195. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414006296346.
Bohlinger, Sandra, and Andreas Fischer (Hrsg.). 2015. *Lehrbuch europäische Berufsbildungspolitik: Grundlagen, Herausforderungen und Perspektiven.* Bielefeld, 2015.
Braun, Dietmar, and Olivier Giraud. 2014. "Politikinstrumente im Kontext von Staat, Markt und Governance." In *Lehrbuch der Politikfeldanalyse,* 179-208. Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110408072.179.
Busemeyer, Marius R. 2009. *Die Europäisierung der deutschen Berufsbildungspolitik: Sachzwang oder Interessenpolitik?* Bonn, 2009. 16 S. + Literaturangaben. [Online] Available at: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/ipa/06512.pdf.
Collier, David, Jody LaPorte, and Jason Seawright. 2012. "Putting Typologies to Work: Concept Formation, Measurement, and Analytic Rigor." *Political Research Quarterly* 65 (1): 217–32. [Online] Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23209571.
Graf, L. 2021. "Leveraging Regional Differences and Cross‐border Collective Institutions: The Case of Skill Formation and Employment in the Border Region of France, Germany, and Switzerland." *Swiss Political Science Review* 27 (2): 369-389. DOI: 10.1111/spsr.12442.
Klassen, Johannes. submitted. "International organisations in vocational education and training: a literature review." *Journal of Vocational Education and Training.*
Kutscha, G. 2010. "Berufsbildungssystem und Berufsbildungspolitik." In *Handbuch Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik,* edited by R. Nickolaus, G. Pätzold, H. Reinisch & T. Tramm, 311–322. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt.
Lehnert, Matthias. 2007. "Sinn und Unsinn von Typologien." In *Forschungsdesign in der Politikwissenschaft. Probleme – Strategien – Anwendungen,* edited by Thomas Gschwend and Frank Schimmelfennig, 91-120. Frankfurt/New York: Campus Verlag.
Li, Junmin, & Matthias Pilz. 2023. "International transfer of vocational education and training: a literature review." *Journal of Vocational Education & Training* 75 (2): 185-218. DOI: 10.1080/13636820.2020.1847566.
Maurer, 2008. "Jenseits globaler Kräfte? Berufspraktische Fächer an allgemeinbildenden Sekundarschulen in Sri Lanka und Bangladesh." *Zeitschrift für Pädagogik* 53 (2): 200-214.
Maurer, 2012. "Structural elaboration of technical and vocational education and training systems in developing countries: the cases of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh." *Comparative Education* 48 (4): 487-503. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2012.702011.
Parreira do Amaral, Marcelo. 2015. "Der Beitrag der Educational Governance zur Analyse der Internationalen Bildungspolitik." *Bildung und Erziehung* 69 (3): 367–384.
Trampusch, C. 2008. "Jenseits von Anpassungsdruck und Lernen: die Europäisierung der deutschen Berufsbildung." *Zeitschrift Für Staats- Und Europawissenschaften (ZSE) / Journal for Comparative Government and European Policy* 6 (4): 577–605. [Online] Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/261.
Vanderhoven, Ellen. 2023. "Unpacking the global apprenticeship agenda: a comparative synthesis of literature from international organizations in the education policy field." *Globalisation, Societies and Education.* DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2023.2252358.
02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
Thinking About Vocational Education and Training (VET), Just Transitions and Neo-Liberalism.
Robert James Avis
University of Derby, United Kingdom
Presenting Author: Avis, Robert James
This theoretical paper seeks to problematise conceptualisations of vocational education and training (VET) and its relationship with Just transitions and neo-liberalism.
It addresses 4 Key issues:
- It examines differing conceptualisations of VET and their ideological significance.
- It relates the Eurocentric conceptualisation of VET to constructions of policy science.
- It suggests doxic conceptualisations of VET have difficulty in accommodating wagelessness.
- It examines ‘just transitions’ concern with the marginalised alongside an expanded understanding of VET
Neo-liberalism provides a backdrop to the paper.
The paper calls for an expansive conceptualisation of vocational education and training (VET) that moves beyond a narrow instrumentalism lodged within a redundant neo-liberalism that stresses the needs of employers and the labour market. Monk et al (2023) draw our attention to the increasing presence of VET research and researchers from the global south in the leading VET journals. In much the same way as the salience of the global south has previously been played down in VET, so too have questions of race and ethnicity, and the climate emergency. These currents rest alongside a literature that addresses ‘just transitions’ (Spours & Grainger, 2023). It is only recently that such questions have come to the fore in VET journals located in the global north (Avis, 2023ab; Avis et al, 2017; Avis et al, 2023; Monk et al 2023; VET4 2023). Stomporowski (2023) calls for a revival of VET analyses and for the development of a critical-ecological theory of VET. This paper initially engages with VET and its social construction. There are two points to be made. Firstly, VET and its conceptualisation is a site of struggle. Secondly can VET be rid of its close association to the needs of employer and adopt an understanding that seeks to contribute to individual and social well-being. This is followed by a discussion of the capitalocene and its relationship to green agendas. This is accompanied by an analysis of leading supranational organisations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF), UNESCO, ILO and focuses on debates about education, sustainability and green agendas. The World Economic Forum is used as a key example. Somewhat counterintuitively, this section then leads into one that comments on the annual conference speeches in 2023 of leading British politicians. The importance of this is that these politician’s reprise many of the same themes as those of the supranational organisations. It is easy enough to criticise the narrow version of VET as being deeply conservative. The point is that we should be cautious about attributing an inherently progressive politics to expansive versions of ‘just transitions’ and VET. This is after all an empirical question that cannot be determined by theoretical fiat being a site of contestation and struggle shaped by the balance of power between capital and labour.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe paper is rooted in policy scholarship with its methodology set in a critical engagement with the relevant literature adopting an approach derived from critical theory. It seeks to engage with and critique key constructions of VET and is a theoretically focused paper that aims to ‘deconstruct’ the discourses used in the field. To that end the paper examines conceptualisations of the capitalocene and anthropocene, VET, ‘just transitions’ as well as the discourses that emanate from supranational organisations such as the world economic forum and the UN, ILO, etc. These are set alongside the discourses used in current research in the field that address social justice. For example, The World Economic Forum draws our attention to the polycrises facing the world, highlighting a number of well-known risks that include: the erosion of social cohesion, societal polarisation, rising inequality, the cost-of-living crisis, the climate emergency and so on. WEF argues these crises require societal intervention to ameliorate their impact. It calls for the development of a socially just society in which the excesses of neo-liberalism are addressed as well as an engagement with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In a similar vein WEF envisages an inclusive society in which no one is left behind and all talents are mobilised. Yet WEF is irrecoverably linked to the status quo and existing capitalist relations. This engagement with various discourses and understandings represents the critical methodology that the paper mobilises.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsIt is important to recognise that VET is both a resource and site of struggle which is set within a specific socio-economic context which frames the terrain in which it is placed and the affordances it offers. This is an empirical question that cannot be determined by theoretical fiat being a site of contestation and struggle. The conclusion brings together the divergent strands of the argument and considers the four key issues examined by the paper:
1. Differing conceptualisations of VET and their ideological significance.
2. Eurocentric conceptualisation of VET to constructions of policy science.
3. Doxic conceptualisations of VET and wagelessness.
4. ‘Just transitions’ concern with the marginalised alongside an expanded
understanding of VET.
Neo-liberalism has provided a backdrop to the paper..
ReferencesAvis, J. (2023a): Reflections on bwp@ Special Issue 19. In: bwp@ Spezial 19: Retrieving and recontextualising VET theory. Edited by Esmond, B./Ketschau, T. J./Schmees, J. K./Steib, C./ Wedekind, V., 1-11. Online: https://www.bwpat.de/spezial19/avis_spezial19.pdf (30.08.2023).
Avis, J. (2023b) A critical review of debates surrounding race/ethnicity and TVET, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 75 (1), 175-184.
Avis, J., Mirchandani, K. and Warmington, P. (2017) Editorial, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 69 (3),287-291.
Avis, J., Orr, K., Papier, J. and Warmington, P. (2023) Editorial: special issue TVET race and ethnicity in the global south and north, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 75 (1), 1-5.
Monk, D. Molebatsi, P. McGrath, S. Metelerkamp, L. Adrupio, S. Openjuru, G. Robbins, G. and Tshabalala T. (2023): Beyond extractivism in vocational education and training research: Reflections on an international research project. In press Journal of vocational education and training.
Spours, K. Grainger, P. (2023) The mediating role of further and higher education in a Just Transition social ecosystem, Journal of vocational education and training online 1-15 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13636820.2023.2258521
Stomporowski, S. (2023): Vocational training theory footprints in times of climate change – aspects of a critical ecological position. In: bwp@ Spezial 19: Retrieving and recontextualising VET theory. Edited by Esmond, B./Ketschau, T. J./Schmees, J. K./Steib, C./Wedekind, V., 1- 35. Online: https://www.bwpat.de/spezial19/stomporowski_en_spezial19.pdf (30.08.2023).
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